| Not so long ago, watching films at home was a | | | | can get DVD players for nothing now, you |
| hopeless experience. You could only buy or | | | | should get a good one if you're going to use |
| rent poor-quality videos with a grainy | | | | it as part of a home entertainment system. |
| picture and bad sound. The experience was | | | | Cheap players may output inferior quality |
| terrible when you compared to the big-screen, | | | | picture and sound, and might even have |
| surround-sound cinema. | | | | trouble playing some DVDs at all. |
| | | | |
| Now, though, the advent of DVD and home | | | | The next step is a big television, either |
| surround sound means that watching movies at | | | | flat with an LCD or plasma screen, or perhaps |
| home doesn't have to be inferior to watching | | | | even a projection TV - be careful with |
| them in the cinema. In fact, many people now | | | | projection though, as it can break if you |
| think it's better - after all, it's cheaper, | | | | plan to use your TV for video games. You |
| and you don't have to put up with other | | | | should consider getting an HDTV version of |
| people making noises while you're trying to | | | | whatever you choose if you want to |
| watch the film. Home entertainment systems | | | | future-proof your system and make your films |
| (also known as home cinemas) are getting | | | | look just that little bit better. |
| cheaper, better and easier to construct all | | | | |
| the time. | | | | Finally, you should get some good surround |
| | | | sound speakers, together with an amplifier or |
| So what are the ingredients of a home | | | | stereo system to drive them. Although you can |
| entertainment system? Basically, there are | | | | get systems now with ridiculous numbers of |
| three things: a source of high quality video | | | | speakers, Dolby 5.1 is still the best system |
| and audio, a display for the video, and | | | | to go with, as it is the most widely |
| speakers for the audio. To begin with, you | | | | supported. |
| should look for a DVD player. Although you | | | | |